"It's Survivor to the next level," he says.

Big ideas abound in comedy, but by banking on his youth and the former successes of the Harvard Lampoon, Novak managed to find backers for his plan.

According to Novak, when people want radical new concepts in comedy, they look to young comedians.

"The best minds in comedy do their best work in the two or three years after college," Lewis said. "We want to snag him before he gets to L.A. and starts doing things with his own money."

Novak's Harvard Lampoon pedigree and the comedy magazine's history of commercial success enticed investors. Young Lampoon alumni filled the Simpsons writing staff, and also created the National Lampoon magazine and movie series of the same name starring Chevy Chase.

"The bottom line is that the National Lampoon made a whole heap of money," Lewis said.